School districts defend reserve funds

Better late than never. School boards are finally responding to the Jindal administration's claim that they have enough money in reserve to take on some expenses that the state can no longer afford.

The administration says that school boards have accumulated a total balance of some $1.1 billion. If that's true, they reason, the boards are in better shape than the state. Earlier this month, EdLog explained that school boards have brought some of this on themselves: "boards have not been transparent in explaining why (the surplus funds) were accumulated in the first place."

But Advocate reporter Charles Lussiere writes here that school boards have now come up with a number of reasons why their reserve funds might not be ripe for picking by the state.

Last year, the big fight in the legislature was over school board authority. This year, it will be over money. It remains to be seen which is more vicious.